Azalina: Anti-fake news law to protect the people, not win GE14

Minister Azalina Othman Said says the law will help remove fake news from social media platforms.

KOTA TINGGI: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Azalina Othman Said says the Anti-Fake News Act gazetted yesterday is a means to protect the people, not a strategy for the government to win the coming election (GE14).

She said this was because the law would help remove fake news from social media platforms.

“We know the people who become victims of fake news will want to seek justice and apart from this law, there are the Publication and Printing Presses Act and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission Act, which can still be used in certain cases,” she told reporters here yesterday.

She added that if the law was the government’s strategy for facing GE14, the power to determine whether news was true or false would not have been given to the court.